Job 18

Then answered Bildad the Shuhite, and said,

1Then Bildad, who came from a place called Shuah, answered Job.

2How long will it be ere ye make an end of words? mark, and afterwards we will speak.

2He said, "How long will you keep talking? Stop and think. Then we can talk too."

3Wherefore are we counted as beasts, and reputed vile in your sight?

3"Why do you treat us like cattle? Why do you act like we are stupid?"

4He teareth himself in his anger: shall the earth be forsaken for thee? and shall the rock be removed out of his place?

4"You tear at yourself when you are angry. Should the whole earth change just for you? Should the rocks move out of their places?"

5Yea, the light of the wicked shall be put out, and the spark of his fire shall not shine.

5"The lamp of a bad person will go out. The flame of his fire will not shine."

6The light shall be dark in his tabernacle, and his candle shall be put out with him.

6"The light inside his tent will grow dark. The lamp beside him will go out."

7The steps of his strength shall be straitened, and his own counsel shall cast him down.

7"His strong, quick steps will get short and slow. His own plans will trip him and knock him down."

8For he is cast into a net by his own feet, and he walketh upon a snare.

8"His own feet walk him right into a net. He wanders straight into its ropes."

9The gin shall take him by the heel, and the robber shall prevail against him.

9"A trap grabs him by the heel. A snare holds him tight."

NoteThe KJV word "gin" is an old word for a trap. And "the robber shall prevail" means the snare holds him tight, not that a thief robs him.

10The snare is laid for him in the ground, and a trap for him in the way.

10"A rope is hidden in the ground to catch him. A trap waits on the path where he walks."

11Terrors shall make him afraid on every side, and shall drive him to his feet.

11"Scary things frighten him from every side. They chase him with every step he takes."

12His strength shall be hungerbitten, and destruction shall be ready at his side.

12"His strength runs out and he grows weak. Trouble waits right beside him."

13It shall devour the strength of his skin: even the firstborn of death shall devour his strength.

13"Disease eats away pieces of his skin. Death's worst sickness eats his arms and legs."

14His confidence shall be rooted out of his tabernacle, and it shall bring him to the king of terrors.

14"He is pulled out of his tent, where he felt safe. He is marched away to the king of terrors, which is death."

Note"The king of terrors" is an old way of saying death.

15It shall dwell in his tabernacle, because it is none of his: brimstone shall be scattered upon his habitation.

15"Fire lives in his tent now. Burning sulfur rains down on his home."

NoteBrimstone is an old word for sulfur, a yellow rock that burns.

16His roots shall be dried up beneath, and above shall his branch be cut off.

16"His roots dry up down below. His branches wither up above."

17His remembrance shall perish from the earth, and he shall have no name in the street.

17"No one on earth will remember him. His name will not be spoken in the land."

18He shall be driven from light into darkness, and chased out of the world.

18"He is pushed out of the light into the dark. He is chased away from the world where people live."

19He shall neither have son nor nephew among his people, nor any remaining in his dwellings.

19"He will have no children or grandchildren among his people. No one from his family will be left where he lived."

20They that come after him shall be astonied at his day, as they that went before were affrighted.

20"People in the west are shocked at what happened to him. People in the east shake with fear."

21Surely such are the dwellings of the wicked, and this is the place of him that knoweth not God.

21"This is what happens in the homes of bad people. This is the place of the person who does not know God."